Former DPWH head takes over helm of LRT-1

MANILA, Philippines - Former Department of Public Works and Highways secretary Rogelio Singson has been named new head of the Light Rail Manila Corp. (LRMC), the company that operates the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1).

LRMC corporate communications head Rochelle Gamboa announced Singson’s appointment as president and CEO of the railway firm.

Singson replaced Jesus Francisco who retired from the post, but remains part of LRMC as board director.

Prior to being appointed secretary of the DPWH during the term of former president Benigno Aquino III, Singson served as president of Maynilad Water Services Inc., a unit of infrastructure conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC).

MPIC, through Metro Pacific Light Rail Corp., is part of the consortium which bagged the contract under the public-private partnership program to operate, maintain, as well as extend the LRT-1 from the current endpoint of Baclaran to Cavite.

Other members of the consortium are AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. of Ayala Corp. and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd.

LRMC took over the operations of LRT-1 in September last year.

Construction for the 11.7-kilometer extension of the train system will start once right of way is delivered by the government.

With the extension, the train system will have eight new stations across Pasay City, Parañaque City, Las Piñas City and Cavite.

The new stations are Aseana, Manila International Airport, Asia World, Ninoy Aquino, Dr. Santos, Las Piñas, Zapote and Niyog.

As of end-September, the LRT-1 carried an average of 404,307 passengers per day.